Gaining the Heart of Godنموونە

Day One: A Ready Heart 

Our hearts can produce surprising and unpredictable reactions. Even though we prefer the feeling that we’ve got everything under control, when a child’s whining or a friend’s pushback challenges our selfish expectations, we’re often surprised by what we see in our response. What is behind those heart responses that shake the foundations of our faith? 

Did you know that it’s impossible to trust and rely on God when you’re saying, “I’ve got this!”? Our natural self-sufficiency resists risking for God and trusting that he will show up when he has to, or nothing else will happen. God wants us to be honest about the unflattering realities of our hearts. With the Holy Spirit’s guidance, honesty and self-examination can work like the point of a plow, digging in hard ground to make room for seeds and new life. 

But nobody really wants to admit their failings. 

If you can’t bear to face the bad news about yourself, your heart may be like unplowed ground. You may not be able to receive what you need, just like unplowed ground can’t receive a seed. But if you are ready for a season of renewal, “... a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown”, open your heart to have some honest self-reflection with God. God’s way of abundance follows a season of seeing things in yourself that you didn’t even know were there.

Jesus told this story about planting a seed to show how the Word of God is like a seed. When the living Word of God falls on a heart with good soil, it produces an abundant harvest you can’t even imagine. But first, Jesus must plow up and make ready your heart. To begin, he does this by diagnosing your heart. The challenge of this parable is meant to stop us in our tracks so we can see the condition of our hearts.

Reflection: What are some things God wants to reveal about the realities of your heart?

Prayer: "God, remove the things that are getting in the way of what you are wanting to do in my heart! Amen."